Battery pack temperature control method and device

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling a temperature of a battery pack, in which, when the battery pack is in an extremely low temperature state during charging / discharging, a PWM signal having a duty ratio value that increases as the temperature increases is outputted to intermittently drive a heat generating unit so that the battery pack stably increases in temperature.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a temperature of a battery pack, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a temperature of a battery pack, in which, when the battery pack is in an extremely low temperature state during charging / discharging, a PWM signal having a duty ratio value that increases as the temperature increases is outputted to intermittently drive a heat generating unit so that the battery pack stably increases in temperature.BACKGROUND ART[0002]A typical battery pack is provided as a chargeable / dischargeable secondary battery. The secondary battery includes a plurality of assemblies, each of which includes a plurality of unit cells.[0003]Also, the cell is constituted by a positive electrode collector, a separator, an active material, an electrolyte, an aluminum thin film layer, and the like. Since the charging / discharging of the battery pack is performed by electrochemical reaction, the ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention provides a method and device to control the temperature of a battery pack. It uses a PWM signal with a specific duty ratio to increase the temperature of the battery pack at low temperatures. As the temperature increases, the duty ratio is adjusted accordingly to ensure a stable increase in the battery pack temperature. This technology ensures that the battery pack is always operational at the optimal temperature range which results in improved performance and durability.

Problems solved by technology

However, in such an exemplary low temperature state, the battery pack has a problem in that the capacity of the usable battery pack is substantially reduced as the electrolyte increases in viscosity, and the movement of lithium ions moving during the charging / discharging is slowed to deteriorate lifetime, stability, and driving performance of the battery pack.

However, since the heat generating component is driven using the battery pack as a driving source, when the heat generating component is driven for the charging / discharging at an extremely low temperature, it may be used below a preset minimum discharge voltage of the battery pack by the reduced capacity of the battery due to the extremely low temperature.

As a result, permanent damage may occur at the battery pack, resulting in dangerous situations such as explosion and ignition.

In order to solve this problem, although a battery management system (BMS) within the battery pack is controlled to limit the use of the battery pack below the minimum discharge voltage, there is an additional problem in that the driving of the heat generating component is interrupted by the minimum discharge voltage when heat is not sufficiently transferred throughout the battery pack.

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